OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine includes 700 people

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine already includes 700 people, Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE Andrei Kelin has said.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine already includes 700 people, Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE Andrei Kelin has said.

"We reached the ceiling of 500 monitors. Today it includes approximately 700 people, including locally hired staff. Of them, 350 observers are permanently deployed in eastern Ukraine," he said during a video link from Vienna on Friday.

"Twenty-seven Russians are working there, and approximately the same number of candidates are currently being debated," the diplomat said.

These people are former employees of Russia's Interior Ministry and Defense Ministry, he added.

The OSCE Permanent Council earlier agreed to increase the organization's monitoring mission in Ukraine to 1,000 people.